


Stranded

by charlotteicewolf77



Series: Stranded 'verse [10]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: 20th Century, Alternate Universe, Broken TARDIS, Chernobyl, Children of Earth, Cold, Deathfic, Discovery, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Epilogue, Episode: s02e05 Adam, Episode: s03e11 Utopia, Episode: s03e13 Last of the Time Lords, Evil, Faint, Family, Fear, Fever, Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, Gray - Freeform, Help, Hiding, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal, Kidnapped, Love, Low Self Esteem, M/M, Mask, Medicine, Mind Games, Mutation, Nightmares, Pain, Romance, Russia, Seizure, Shock, Sickfic, Snow, Spoilers, Stranded, TARDIS - Freeform, TARDIS helps, Teleportation, Time Lord, Tragedy, Vortex Manipulator, Whump, burden, chucked out, collapse, companion - Freeform, confused, control room, cough, delusional, dizzy - Freeform, dying, first fic over 10000 words, fixing, hallucination, imprisoned, longest fic so far, mentioned YTNW, mentions past companions, oblivious doctor, puzzled, radiation poisoning, relationship, scared, sharing memories, sonic screw driver - Freeform, talk, telepathic, upset Jack, wolf - Freeform, wwp (whump with plot)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 01:52:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 19,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlotteicewolf77/pseuds/charlotteicewolf77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martha and Jack are now travelling with the Doctor, what happens when Jack get seriously sick? and what's more, the trio are stranded in the deserted, snow covered plains of Russia; surrounded by an unknown enemy. How will the Doctor get them out of this one? The main story of the series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Doctor Who, Torchwood etc etc

The TARDIS came to a halt with a grinding crash, throwing its three occupants around the console room.

"You do make the nicest landings Doctor."

Captain Jack Harkness told his friend as he helped Martha to stand. The last of the time lords chose to ignore that comment and studied the screen that was showing their out side surroundings.

"Oh," The Doctor muttered as the picture fizzled out into noisy static and lights grew noticeably dimmer. "That's not meant to happen."

"Why? What's happened?" Martha asked him.

"The crash land has damaged the TARDIS' circuit main frame and parts of the electrics have gone up the spout. It'll take at least a fortnight to repair, if not longer."

"So… we're stranded?" Jack voiced the precise words they had all been trying to avoid speaking.

"'Fraid so."

Silence took over for a few moments until Martha spoke up. "Where are we stranded then Doc'" she asked jovially, in an attempt to brighten the glum atmosphere. The elder zipped back around and tapped at the scanner impatiently.

"Well… from the information I got before this conked out- mid 20th century Russia. My guess would be somewhere in Siberia, there's about 40 miles or so between us and some form of civilisation. Whichever way you go. Ooh, and on that thought I had better make sure the heating system's not going to walk out on us."

The Doctor disappeared in to the labyrinth of the TARDIS in a blur of pin stripes and plimsolls; his two companions watched him leave.

Martha grinned at Jack and he returned the gesture.

"You want to go outside and explore, don't you?" Jack said.

"What a fabulous idea Mr Harkness. I'll go and get my coat."

Minuites later, the pair were trudging through the deep snow, throwing the occasional snow ball.

"Oi!" Martha shouted as Jack succeeded in hitting her with a lump of snow. She hastily bent down and grabbed a handful of the cold powder before hurling it haphazardly at the man. It missed.

"You can't catch me!" he taunted Martha with a laugh. He soon shut up, however, as she got a bulls-eye on his shoulder.

"You were saying?" she smirked; spotting a wild look come into Jack's eyes, Martha turned and ran off through the snow. With the former time agent hot on her heels.

"You're gonna get it now!" jack called after Martha as he hared after her.

"Only if you can catch up to me!" she retorted, continuing to run.

They carried on their mad chase until; finally, Jack decided to end it and tackled the young woman to the ground. "Gotcha!" he laughed breathlessly.

"Uh, yeah, and just how long did it take you?"

"You just got lucky, plus I gave you some leeway and you got a head start. Any other day and I would have caught up with you in less than half the time that it took. Care for a rematch?"

"Fine with me, I'll be over the moon when I manage to out run you twice in one day!"

"In your dreams."

Just then, the Doctor called to them, breaking through their friendly banter. "You two! Come on! You'll freeze out there, in your excitement you forgot to put on some suitable clothing!"

As if on cue, Martha started shivering. "He's right; it's well cold out here."

"Wanna borrow my coat?" Jack offered the woollen garment to her.

"But then you'll be cold instead." She pointed out.

"Nah, I've been out in colder places like this for hours and I haven't been affected in the slightest."

"Well, ok, if you're sure." Martha gave in; after all, she was very cold.

The pair walked back to the TARDIS in a comfortable silence. However, Martha stepped through the blue doors alone. The Doctor glanced up from where he was fiddling around with some gadget or other. "Where did Jack go?"

She glanced back round and saw that, indeed, the elder man hadn't followed behind her. She hadn't even been aware Jack was missing until then. "I don't know, he was right behind me just a second ago."

"Then where could he be?" the time lord pondered, a frown forming on his face.

"D'you think he's alright?" Martha asked him worriedly.

"Yeah," he dismissed the thought, "Most likely he's just gotten distracted by something. He'll soon be back. Jack wonders off sometimes to clear his head. If he isn't back in half an hour then I'll go looking for him."

"He hasn't got his coat with him! He could get seriously sick!" she protested.

"Ok, twenty minutes then." Martha nodded- though still worried- slinging jack's coat over the coat rack and retreating to her bed room. Well away from the cacophony emitting from the console room.

The Doctor – in spite of the cool and collected façade that he had presented to Martha- was deeply

worried about his male companion. Jack had been acting out of character ever since there departure from the planet Ra son kea eglee dot frost metabellion fifteen one hundred. Never before had the captain been so broody for such a long period of time. It was unusual to say the least and it was worrying the Doctor. So much so that he was beginning to rethink his original plan and go searching for Jack.

He patted the console in a comforting manner.

"I'll be back in a minute old girl, just as soon as I've found Jack." Before he does something incredibly stupid. He added silently, grabbing his coat, the Doctor headed out in to the frozen landscape beyond.


	2. chapter two

Jack ran a calloused hand through the wolf's thick grey fur and let out a world weary sigh. Lately, he'd been feeling more and more like all the things that he did to make the Doctor proud were never enough. Maybe it was just his ego, a desire to be noticed more often; but the immortal always dismissed that thought the second that it entered his head. That was how he used to be, before he had met the Doctor and Rose, ran off in a sixty's police box that was in fact a ship that could travel in time and also space and became incapable of dying. So, if his ego was not at fault….what was? Because he sure didn't have a clue.

Jack's reverie was broken suddenly when the said time lord called out to him, "Jack! Where have you got to this time? I've got enough to deal with with out having to track down missing immortals as well!" Jack winced at the Doctor's words, a pain blossoming quickly in his heart.

The Doctor, meanwhile, silently cursed himself- in as many languages as he was able- at his last sentence. That had come out all wrong, he definitely hadn't meant for it to sound so harsh and exasperated. He wasn't really fed up of Jack, was he? Deciding not to follow that particular thought through, the time lord trudged on. It was much colder now, much colder; what had Jack been thinking? Letting Martha have his coat and then staying out in this God forsaken waste land even longer. TRULY INSANE. Even by the younger man's usual standards.

Jack watched silently as the Doctor ploughed on wards, calling out to him again. If one were to look closer, they would have seen the fresh tear tracks that were staining his pale cheeks, already frozen by the unforgiving climate.

"I'm sorry for being such a burden on you Doc'." He whispered softly, before slipping away back to the TARDIS to cry in peace. 

Martha peered out into the corridor that all of their bed rooms where situated down and saw none other than Captain Jack Harkness enter his room with tears in his eyes. The trainee doctor decided against asking her friend if he was alright and instead stealthily made her way down the hall and peered through the slightly open door of Jack's bed room. She let out a muffled gasp at what she saw.

Jack lay on his bed crying like a lost and vulnerable child. He was that upset he didn't even try and hide his sobbing. He was uttering random things that Martha was unable to understand.

"I didn't know."

"… I'd never have come back if I knew…"

"… I didn't mean to…"

"…I'm sorry…"

On and on it went for who knew how long until Jack sat up with his back to the door and hitched up his dark blue t shirt, examining something on his smoothly defined torso that Martha was unable to see. She heard the former time agent utter a soft and indistinctive curse as he noticed something that he didn't like and leaned forward to awkwardly wrestle something from the drawer in the bed side table. She couldn't see just what exactly but she caught a flash of something white and then a glint of light refracting off a bottle which contained some clear liquid.

Jack winced aloud and hissed in pain as he returned his hand to his torso and dabbed some of the see through liquid on.

Martha turned on her heel and ran off back to her bed room. Some things were better off not knowing about.

The time lord was obnoxious to the events that were transpiring back in his TARDIS and to his companions hurt and suspicions. When the TARDIS alerted him by telepathy that Jack had returned safe and sound, he didn't mind as much where the man had gotten to.

He was just stepping through the wooden blue doors, when an unsettling feeling passed over him and he had the familiar sensation that he was being watched by some one or some thing. Turning, the Doctor saw nothing but the vast plains of snow.

"Must have imagined it." He decided, then entered the police box.

Outside, a predator roamed.


	3. chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for any medical inaccuracy :s

"Martha can you come here a minute, please?" Jack called to her from one of the TARDIS' many corridors. She left the Doctor fixing something on the control panel and went off in search of her friend.

"Jesus, Jack are you OK? What happened?" she cried and ran to his side. Because Jack was on the floor, supporting himself with one elbow, pale, sweating and eyes cloudy and unfocused. She dropped down next to him and pressed her palm to his forehead.

"Your temperature's soaring. I'm gonna get the Doctor."

"NO!" Jack grabbed a hold of Martha's wrist and pulled her back down. "It's OK, I'm fine…Don't need… the Doctor…" the girl hesitated before deciding to stay where she was.

"Tell me what's wrong." She said to him. The elder let loose a snort of humourless and bitter laughter.

"Do you think I'd have called you if I knew? If I had my way, neither of you would have found out." Martha sighed and tried a new approach.

"Tell me what happened?"

He rubbed his eyes blearily and shook his head. "I dunno, I was just walking and then I felt dizzy all of a sudden and then everything just went black. And I feel sick and my head hurts." A groan punctuated the end of his sentence and Jack leaned forward with pain written all over his face. "And my chest is absolutely killing me." He added.

"Right, I am definitely telling the Doctor!" Martha once again tried to stand and once more Jack tried to stop her.

"No! Martha I have never begged for anything before in my entire life but I am begging you now: do not tell the Doctor!"

"Why?" she demanded, "You're sick Jack; sure I'm a doctor but what if it's something alien? What if it just keeps getting worse until…" she let the sentence hang in an attempt to win Jack around. But it was no help; the man was as stubborn as a bear was strong.

"Don't need the Doctor, I'm fine."

"Why don't you want the Doctor to know?" Martha asked him.

"Just… because…" he shrugged.

A moment later he's clapped a hand to his mouth; Martha hurriedly grabbed a bucket from a nearby cupboard, passed it into his hands and Jack threw it up for the first time that day.

Martha helped Jack to stand and get into his own bed. He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. She ran a gentle hand through his sweaty brown hair and left a glass of water and aspirin on the bed side table. She couldn't even say what was wrong with him; being immortal affected Jack differently to the patients she had had in the hospital. Needless to say it pissed Martha a great deal. "I hate being helpless." She fumed quietly. "If he gets any worse, I'm telling the Doctor, whether he likes it or not." With that, she exited the room.

Late that night, after she was sure that the Doctor was soundly asleep, Martha crept down the halls back to Jack's bed room. As she entered, she noticed that the water and aspirin were untouched yet there was considerably more vomit in the bucket then there had been before.

"Jack?" she whispered softly, "Jack, wake up!" she tried again when her first attempt failed to arouse the immortal time agent. He opened his eyes a couple of seconds later.

"Martha?" he mumbled sleepily. "Wa' time'sit?"

"Gone midnight."

Jack's reply was cut off as a wave of nausea crashed down on him and he puked violently into the bucket. Martha's hospital training took over and she pulled him upright and rubbed his back in soothing circles. It was several moments before the puking fit ceased; Jack gasped helplessly as Martha reached an arm over and placed the edge of the glass to his lips. "Drink!" she ordered him roughly and he reluctantly obeyed. She next forced two of the pain killers into his hand and made him swallow them as well.

They sat in silence for a while, until Martha decided enough was enough and that she was most definitely owed some answers.

"Why don't you want the Doctor know?"

"Because." Jack answered simply.

"Jack Harkness you are going to tell me right now or I will go and fetch the Doctor this very second and then you can explain it to both of us- and believe you me, it will resemble a scene out of the Spanish inquisition- so you had better start talking."

Jack sighed and began to pour out his inner most thoughts and fears:

"Fine! Have you noticed that lately everything that I do just doesn't seem like it's good enough for the Doctor? Every time that I do something, it's like I'm not living up to his standards. At first I thought it was just me being egotistical, but it's not; I think I've done something wrong but I don't know what."

Jack trailed off and felt his eye lids become heavy and start to fall shut, his head lolled forward and less than a moment later, he was lost in a feverish slumber.

Martha watched the elder companion as he fell unconscious, before she turned on her heel and headed silently towards the door. Just as she was stepping over the threshold, Jack suffered from a violent and painful sounding coughing fit that seemed as though it would crack several of his ribs. Thankfully, the immortal remained lost in his sleep. All that she could do was shoot yet another worried glance his way as she closed the door.


	4. chapter four

The dark figure with too many fingers and a hideous aura loomed creepily over the TARDIS and let out an angry snarl. It was experiencing an anomaly of emotions, like the waves of the sea crashing forcefully down on to the sand, only to rise up again with double the power.

The face was different now, younger, tanned. The hair messy and a dark, chocolate brown. This Doctor was the complete opposite to the one she had loved and known her whole life.

She had met other people like her, some from the future, some the past. Some alien, some human, some not knowing just quite what they were. But they all 2 things in common: they had all been his companions and he had betrayed and abandoned all of them. Their trust was broken but they were still managing to find it in their hearts to forgive him.

That idiot highlander and the girl who was known by her colleagues as being 'all brain and no heart'. The orphan journalist and her band of misfit teenagers, and many more.

The man 'Jack' and the woman 'Martha'. By all rights they should despise the time lord for what he had put them through. The girl's family had been prisoners on The Valiant because their so called saviour the Doctor had come into her life and made her his companion. The male had been rendered unable to die and forced to lose all those he had grown to love in Cardiff as he waited for the Doctor to come back. Then on The Valiant he was subjected to indescribable torture and deaths, the only good thing was that he died in an inventive way every time- no one could accuse the Captain of following the crowd.

Any body who had ever come in to contact with the Doctor had a perfectly legitimate reason to want him hung, drawn and quartered.

The rest of the time lords, well actually they were different. Technically the man had been saving them from becoming some thing they had all detested and sworn never to descend to; power hungry, meglomaniactic dictators. But every thing else…..

The Doctor would be served justice and at her own hand. But for now she would just have to be patient.


	5. chapter five

Martha walked into the TARDIS' control room and spotted the Doctor. Or, more correctly, the Doctor's legs sticking out ungainly from underneath the console. A metallic hammering resonated profusely throughout the room, the affectionately nicknamed 'old girl', making several noises of protest.

"Hey." She greeted the nine hundred year old brunette.

"'Sup?" came the muffled reply.

Silence took over for a short while until Martha had worked up enough nerve to voice her question.

"Doctor?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you supposed to do when a friend asks you to keep a secret from another friend even though it might be putting them in serious danger?"

The time lord slid the rest of his lanky frame out from under the console and met her eyes with his stern ones. "What's wrong with Jack?"

The younger stared, shocked, for a few moments before regaining her senses.

"How can you know? I aint talking about Jack, I'm just curious."

"Come off it Martha!" the Doctor scoffed. "I already knew. The TARDIS told me something was the matter with Jack; add in my earlier observations that lately he has been incredibly moody and it is painfully easy, a three year old slitheen could have figured it out. Now, you still haven't answered my question= what's wrong with Jack?"

"I don't know!" Martha shouted at him exasperatedly, "God, you expect me to know everything? I can see how Jack must have been feeling these past few weeks! Jesus, Doctor, he is so scared that he's done something to upset you that right this second he is lying in bed seriously sick! And all because he was trying to make you proud! I heard what you shouted when you went looking for him yesterday! Like you had had enough of him and that he was a burden, how do you think that made him feel? He was so scared he didn't even want to tell me in case you found out and told him to take a hike! Jack must have been feeling like this for absolute Goddamn ages. And all because of you!"

She knew immediately that she had gone too far but her heart felt a lot lighter now and the Doctor had to know the truth. But seeing the guilt adorning her friend's face, she did feel slightly regretful and tried to make amends.

"OK, so maybe I was a bit too harsh. But, Doctor, it's all true! And I am really sorry for shouting at you Doc', but, I'm scared." Martha admitted quietly.

The time lord remained staring up at her for a few more moments before leaping up and pulling her into a bone crushing embrace.

"I'm sorry I made you both feel that way." He mumbled apologetically.

Martha pulled back, "I've never felt like that Doctor, it's Jack you should be apologising too and caring for."

The Doctor looked at her fearfully. "OK, Martha, when you say Jack's ill, how ill?"

"Very. He's got to have been feeling like this for ages, considering how bad he is now. It's a wonder he managed to keep it under wraps for this long."

"What's the matter with him?"

"Puking, coughing, seriously high fever, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, no appetite and bad chest pains; even the strongest pain killers that the TARDIS supplied us with were barely any help."

The Doctor sucked his teeth in a worried fashion, "How do you know all of this?"

"Yesterday. You remember when he called to me and asked me to come? Well it was because he had collapsed in the corridor- which I guess is actually quite good, if Jack had blacked out in his room then he would never have needed help- we got talking and he said that his chest was hurting and I kept trying to come and get you but Jack kept stopping me and begging me not to; I agreed because I didn't want to stress him out even more. He was just about to tell me why when he puked up so I never found out, I managed to get him to his room and he was so exhausted that he fell asleep straight away. I left some water and aspirin for him but when I went back that night when I was sure you had fallen asleep, he hadn't touched them. I think Jack only even waked up slightly when he threw up. Then I woke him up nut he was sick again so I made him take some aspirin and he told me why he hadn't wanted to say anything. He fell asleep a while after that and just as I was about to leave him be, he started coughing so hard I thought his ribs were going to break or something."

Martha stopped (finally) and eyed the Doctor who had been keeping his face void of emotions all the time he had been listening to her recant her story, except for wincing slightly when she brought up the younger man's reasons for staying quiet.

The TARDIS suddenly emitted a shrill sounding alarm and one word sounded in their heads as they charged frantically down the corridor as they ran.

JACK!


	6. chapter six

She laughed evilly as she closed her eyes and saw the scene playing out in her minds' eye. The Doctor and Martha running frantically down the TARDIS' corridors to give aid to their friend.

Oh! Toying with the Doctor was so much fun! She hadn't planned it out this way but once she had realised that all of this was in her power to do so, she just had not been able to help her self!

The Doctor thought of him self as the ultimate pinnacle of knowledge and logic, impenetrable even, but here was she! And she had managed to out smart him with such ease and dexterity! She always had been erudite, able to out wit both fellow pupils and her teachers. Some thing that made them go incandescent with rage, able to peruse a book in half the time it would normally take. Spending her days in a serene park staring up at the sky while her peers studied endlessly, even the ones infamous for slacking and being un carish.

The Doctor would have been so proud had it been any one else but him self on the receiving end of her malevolent rath.

She had boosted her telepathy skills over the years, going back and forth to the best masters of telepathy in all the 8 galaxies, not that they had been able to teach her much of course, as a five year old, she had been working on a telepathy level of that of an experienced time lord in their penultimate regeneration.

She returned to the in mind movie of the two friends running and considered locking the door to Jack's room, but eventually decided against it. The two companions might still be useful to her, they could be converted easily unlike her time lord nemesis. These two might be different, they might agree with her. Any thing was possible when you had the Doctor around.

Right this very moment, she was forcing the oldest of the companions to suffer. By hacking, first, in to the TARDIS' telepathic circuits and then in to Jack's mind, she was able to make him feel pain ten times worse. Maybe even do a little permanent damage too…..

Hmm, that was a thought, a few incriminating memories here and there perhaps….

Oh, she couldn't wait until she had all three of them under her control, able to make them do what ever she asked of them.

"Oh, justice tastes so good!" she cackled gleefully, "If I had known how good this tastes, then I would certainly have done it years ago! The Master may have been power hungry and crazy and a megalomaniac, but he was right when he said that torturing some one gave you an almighty high! Oh, this feels just so good!"

With that, she continued inflicting pain upon the trio inside the TARDIS.


	7. chapter seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, I apologise for any medical inaccuracy :s

"JACK!" Martha yelled to her friend fearfully as she and the Doctor burst in to his bed room. Said immortal, was curled up tightly in to a ball and shivering vigorously- though sweat glistened prominently on his forehead. His breath came in short, hurried gasps that appeared to pain him. Tears mingled with sweat as he whimpered fearfully at the nightmare he was trapped in. The Doctor glanced side ways at her helplessly,

"What's wrong with him?" he shouted at Martha.

"He's having a seizure!" she returned, scrambling up on the bed and lying down next to Jack. The last time lord could do nothing but stand by as she gently coaxed him to lie out straight again.

"Sshh Jack, I know it hurts but you have to breathe normally, yeah? C'mon, every thing will be OK, I promise, just stop panicking and breathe deep. All you have to do is straighten out a bit and carry on breathing normally and then it will stop hurting." It took a while, but eventually Martha had succeeded in her task; Jack was now sleeping peacefully again, though still trapped in the fever stricken dreams of his illness.

She looked the Doctor straight in the eye. "What's the matter with him Doc'?"

He came and slowly sat down next to the bed, eyes never once breaking contact with hers. "I honestly don't know." He replied solemnly

Tears threatened to make their presence known on Martha's cheeks until she blinked them hurriedly away.

The Doctor leaned forward slightly and stoked Jack's hair. "I don't know, I honestly do not know."

Some thing was on the girl's mind, what? She wondered. Some thing that might explain why Jack was like this. Some thing which had scared her, badly. Some thing that had happened yesterday, WHAT! She screamed inwardly. The time lord watched her, a pondering look clouding his features as he had one of his infamous 'light bulb moments'.

"Martha if you allow me access, then I would be able to search inside of your mind deeper than your conscious thoughts are able to. I'd never do this under normal circumstances but this could be a case of life and death. And I have a horrible suspicion that Jack won't bounce back in to life again this time."

Martha nodded with out a second thought, "Be my guest."

"You sure?"

"No, but let's do it- before I chicken out."

He placed two fingers on her temples and their eyes snapped shut in perfect unison.

Through Martha's eyes, he saw the corridor passing by as she walked stealthily closer. The door to Jack's room was already open so all she had to do was peer in. the brunette lay sobbing on the bed brokenly; mumbling words that now made perfect sense. "'I never would have come back if I knew…'" never would have become a companion again if he knew his presence would only annoy the Doctor. Boy that hurt, he understood how upset the immortal was. To have every thing and every one you trusted and loved and knew just ripped away entirely was a feeling he had encountered once before. For Jack, it was a feeling he had felt far too many times. No body deserved that, no matter how evil they might be. Every one needed a home.

Tearing him self out of his sorrowful lamenting, the Doctor watched as Jack eventually stopped crying so hard and struggled painfully up right with his back facing the door. The last of the time lords heard his friend curse darkly as he lifted up his shirt and spied some thing on his stomach that didn't please him much. Detected an almost inaudible hiss of pain as it was touched with a tender finger and saw as Jack pulled out a roll of stark white bandages. He wrenched him self out of his younger companion's mind and back in to real time.

"You ok?" he asked Martha worriedly, having to share your memories with some one was not the most pleasurable of experiences. She nodded wordlessly, face a host to some indeterminable expression. With out any further comment, she carefully sat up and the Doctor gingerly undid Jack's navy blue top and peeled away the fabric of his white t-shirt.

"Oh my God." Martha exclaimed. What she was witness to, however, was not any thing unknown to her; but some thing that she had seen all too often. Bandages clumsily swathed the immortal man's lower abdomen. They seemed fresher than a day old- making the pair come to the conclusion that Jack must have been having to change them at least twice a day, though stained with blood there were not yet.

"You going to take them off or shall I?" Martha asked him.

"I'll do it." With that comment, gentle hands deftly untied the knots placed in the gauze and started to unravel the mysteries beneath.

What they saw nearly made both of them hurl.

Indescribable amounts of blood surrounded the edge of a gash who knows how deep. (though on recall, Martha was fairly certain she had been able to see parts of Jack's internal organs- she hadn't looked close enough to see which.) What was possibly worse, how ever, was the infection that had manifested a hold on the man's body and ravaged him completely. Pus, a vicious yellow-green colour, oozed over the flesh, which was already red and sore. It stank totally of blood and sweat, making it incredibly uncomfortable for the immortal time agent. Some thing clicked in to place in side Martha's mind.

"Doctor…" she started slowly, "He had this bottle full of some thing clear. And when it touched his stomach, he acted like it proper stung. He kept it in his drawer along with the bandages."

In response, the nine hundred year old time lord pulled on the handle and rifled through its contents; moments later pulling out a half empty bottle full of the clear liquid Martha had mentioned. "It's antiseptic, but from thirtieth century earth." He explained. "Does every thing the stuff that you have in the hospital does, except that it also contains a muscle relaxant and pain killers that seep through the skin and block out what ever sort of symptoms the wound is subjecting the victim too temporarily. Saves on them making twenty some thing separate pills. Although, oh… oh no, no no no…."

"What?" she demanded frantically, "What's wrong with it? If that stuff is antiseptic and pain killers then why has the cut got infected?"

The Doctor unscrewed the lid and sniffed its contents. "Martha, how old do you think that wound is?"

She shrugged; bewildered by the way the conversation had turned. "I don't know, four, maybe five weeks. Give or take a couple of days. Why?"

"Because," he said solemnly, "Jack's got a high resistance to pain, so by the time it all started to get too much for him to handle, the cut was already at least two weeks old. Five weeks ago we were on Ra-son-ka. Four weeks ago we were traipsing through a swamp on Elgadora. A week later we were in the Arctic. By the time Jack started to do something, the infection had already gotten a foot hold. So he puts antiseptic on the gash, probably as much for the pain relief than any thing else- so he wouldn't be detected by us for acting strangely. Now, the down side to some of the thirtieth century antiseptics are that if they came in to contact with a wound already infected, they just make the problem worse. And because it's on Jack's stomach…" he trailed off; there was no need to carry on.

"It made the whole situation ten times more serious." Martha finished off for him.

"Exactly. And even supposing we might actually kill Jack, he would revive before the infection had been eradicated even in the slightest. It's just one very long, very painful cycle."

"Life's a real bitch, heh?"

"The biggest. Ok, so you stay here and look after Jack; I'll go see what the TARDIS can provide us with."

"Ok, hurry back though."

"I will."

Then he left Martha alone with an uncomfortable feeling that some one, or some thing, was watching them.


	8. chapter eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for any medical innacuracy :s

"OK old girl, what have you got for me then?" the Doctor asked the bank of scanners located in the room just off the main medical bay. A pause then a series of clicks as information rolled across a screen.

 

5 weeks old. Infected from toxins off weapon and from those found majorly in Elgadoran swamps. Made worse by sudden transition in temperature.

 

The Doctor nodded absently, remembering how one minute they had been in the Arctic and the next the Sahara.

 

Treated with thirtieth century antiseptic and caused it to become worse. Weapon was just shy of hitting intestines. Average chance of fatality for some one with a similar immune system= 37% chance of fatality in conjunction with current mind set= 71%. Possible symptoms= fever, headaches nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, chest pains, fatigue, black outs, coughing, dizziness.

 

Treat immediately with= ticarcillin-clavunalic acid; 3.1 grams through IV every six hours.

 

The last time lord patted the TARDIS appreciatively. "Thanks old girl, any thing else that I should know?" the time ship beeped accordingly and more information scrolled across the screen.

 

Keep patient well hydrated and warm. Also administer correct medication for fever and pain if required. Absolutely critical to not cause stress.

 

The brunette quickly memorised every thing and walked back in to the medical bay to collect some proper bandages, cloths, water and medicine for his sick companion. The Doctor paused momentarily in the control room on the way back to check the now partly repaired cameras. Still just white snow. And to think that Jack had stayed out in it!

Some times he wondered whether the younger man knew just how stupid he could some times be. Well, maybe not stupid, because Jack was any thing but dumb. Maybe ignorant was a better word to describe it. Unaware even.

The problem, the Doctor decided, was that the immortal time agent pushed him self too hard; forgot that even though he was unable to stay dead, he was still human and he still had weaknesses. The last of the time lords wondered just how Jack had gotten him self a gash on his abdomen any way and he made a quick mental note to ask when all of this had been done and dusted with. Then he was on his way again back to Jack's bed room.

"Finally!" Martha cried out as he entered. "I thought that you had gone and gotten your self lost! And Jack had another seizure but he woke up for a couple of moments then, he's a bit upset and anxious that you know, but I think he is actually quite relieved that he doesn't have to deal with every thing alone any more. And also I know that this might sound really paranoid and quite mental, but both me and Jack think that some one or some thing is out there watching us."

"You felt it as well?" he asked her. "At least I know that I'm not going crazy then, or not going crazy alone is better than nothing."

"Yeah well with all the stuff that you have shown us then I don't think some body could blame us for being paranoid and mental." The young woman shrugged carelessly. "So, what have you brought back then, Miracle Man?"

The Doctor placed down his bundle of stuff and sorted it out, mean while reciting all the data that he had learned from the TARDIS, "OK, so I've got ticarcillin-clavunalic acid. Of which 3.1 grams have to be administered through IV every six hours. But because Jack is immortal and from the fifty first century, he has a different immune system to regular humans; so he can have pain and fever medication with out any severe side effects. And you should go to bed and get some sleep because you look well tired and you most definitely can't help people when you're exhausted. No arguments. Go."

Martha gave Jack a reassuring and gentle pat on his shoulder before hopping off of the bed and left for her own bed room. As soon as he was sure that she had definitely gone to her room, the Doctor focused all of his attentions solely on to his sick companion. He hastily set up the IV and Jack let out a weak moan as it went in to his skin, then he disposed of the old bandages and carefully cleaned up Jack's stomach as painlessly as he was able to.

With out the blood, pus, sweat and just general grime, the Doctor could see just how painful looking the gash was. "Christ in hell Jack." He cursed under his breath darkly, "Why didn't you tell me how bad it was? I wouldn't have thought of you as weak, I wouldn't have even told Martha if you hadn't wanted her to know about it." The immortal brunette murmured some thing inaudible and the tiniest slither of blue eyes peeked out from under heavy lids.

"Doc'…?" he whispered, both pained and confused.

Said time lord was quick to offer up some much needed comfort. "Hush, it's alright. You're gonna be OK Jack, me and Martha are going to take care of you."

A fierce shake of his head and his eyes closed again. "I'm sorry Doc'…I tried… I couldn't save her… I'm sorry."

"Jack…" the Doctor started, concern filling him as his friend's skin turned even paler and his speech became ever more disjointed and fevered. "Jack it's OK, Martha's safe. You're safe, you're in the TARDIS- remember? You, Martha and me, we're all OK."

"No…Martha…she's gone Doc'… I'm sorry, I wasn't able to save her….'m so sorry"

The elder decided to play along. "It's OK, I know you're sorry. I'll figure out a way to save her, just go to sleep. Don't worry, every thing will be alright."

"Promise?" jack mumbled exhaustedly.

"Promise."

One more 'sorry', and the time agent was asleep again. The Doctor could not remember a time when any of his companions had looked so weak before and it plain terrified him. He placed a damp cloth on the younger's over heated skin and neatly bandaged up the wound. Thoughts racing all the while.

Heck, if Jack wasn't even at least attempting to get me to leave then some thing must be wrong. I can't believe I didn't notice this. This is all my fault.

The Doctor glanced at the still form on the bed and sent up a silent prayer to what ever God might exist that every thing would turn out OK.


	9. chapter nine

Jack was incredibly reluctant to go back to sleep again, some thing was probing at his thoughts and he had always been quite touchy on the subject that was his inner thoughts and the safety of them- having 2 years of your memories stolen away from you does that. And Jack couldn't remember much of the last couple of days.

Pain. A lot of pain for definite. From… from what? Oh yeah, that gash that he had on his stomach. In his mind, Jack felt his facial muscles twitch upwards in a painful grimace, yeah, that hadn't been looking so good for a while now. What else could he remember? Uh… white, cold, barren, what had it been? S…sn…snow! That was it, a barren plain covered in snow some where in Russia. Stranded for a whole fortnight in Russia with the Doctor and with Martha because the TARDIS had gone and broken down.

Hold on a minute, no, that couldn't be right could it?; Martha… the three of them had been fighting… oh! Who had they been fighting? Some one… the… the… daleks? No, it was most definitely not the daleks…. Cybermen? No, but almost… robots? Yes! Well technically no, or, OK, yes. Oh heck, he was beginning to sound as random and crazy as the Doctor. Not one of his goals in life.

Back tracking, robots. They were robots but they were so much more than just robots. So much more advanced, they had had feelings and emotions and the entire works. Yeah, rogue AI units that had chased the three of them through a swamp on Elgadora. Boy that had given off a right minging stench, made his cut hurt a whole lot more too, but he had just soldered on and paid it no heed. But… what happened to Russia and being stranded? Hadn't the academy taught him as a child that Elgadora was a pre industrialization planet? He was that confused that he wasn't even able to remember how he had gotten hurt in the first place.

Ok, Jack thought, so either we are stranded in Russia- all 3 of us- and we are all perfectly fine and there was no fight or chase through a swamp or any thing like that

OR

It was actually just him and the Doctor, alone in the middle of no where because… because… why couldn't he remember? It was like the time agency all over again.

DW

The doctor had been watching over the former con artist as he slept for little more than half an hour when the younger started to stir restlessly and he realised that his fever had risen again.

"SShh, Jack, calm down." The last of the time lords reassured him gently. "it's ok, you're perfectly safe, just rest." The Doctor repeated it over and over again until it became a sort of mantra. The worry that was residing in the pit of his stomach increasing ten fold with each second that went passed.

DW

The immortal man remained completely oblivious to his friend's panic and continued raking through his mind for answers. If the 3 of them were currently in Russia, then why was it that he had memories of a fight happening on Elgadora? Where was Martha? What was it that he had said to the Doctor a while ago? that he was sorry… because… because… because he hadn't been able to… to… save Martha! Because he could have prevented the AI leader from shooting Martha with a laser bolt and he hadn't done. And the Doctor had said, he had said that he would find out a way to fix every thing, some how. So then why did he have the memories of two completely different situations happening to him at the exact same time? He was so confused it hurt, a memory flashed it self across his mind briefly. Of Martha and him having a snow ball fight. When did that happen? Was it in Russia or was it when they had been in the Arctic how ever many weeks ago? darkness was pulling and whined temptingly for him to just give I and sleep just felt so good at that moment. Surely just a couple of minutes rest wouldn't make a difference.

DW

The thing out side of the TARDIS laughed evilly as she fiddled about with Jack's mind. Technically, she thought, this was a practise that was strictly forbidden. The law was preached by every one from the peasants of Metabelis three to the High Princess Of Frakis. But then, just supposing the Shadow Proclamation or any similar personnel did find out about this ( which they most definitely would not as they were all completely incompetent fools), then she would just be able to blame it on the fever that was raging through out the immortal man's body and pass it off as nonsensical delirium.

Oh yes, soon, soon every thing would come in to place.


	10. chapter ten

The Doctor was still awake when Martha came in the next morning, bringing with her 2 steaming mugs of tea.

"How is he?" she asked the elder man, concern written all over her face.

He took the offered mug gratefully and let out a world weary sigh. "If I am truly honest, I really do not know. The wound looks like its healing fine now, but his body is still having a job trying to fight off the infection."

They sat in a not so comfortable silence for a long while. "You know Doc'," Martha began, "They taught me and my class in medical school that a person's state of mind can affect wounds and healing times and stuff like that. And seeing that humans are pretty much the same in Jack's time as they are in the twenty first century, then I'm willing to bet that it affects fifty first century beings in similar ways."

The last of the time lords nodded both silently and grimly. After a brief period of contemplating thoughts, he spoke up. "The TARDIS said that the chance of a fatality is over seventy per cent."

Said doctor in training started up in fearful alarm, "What?! Is that including the stuff going on with Jack's mind or…"

"Yep." The Doctor confirmed morosely, "I don't know whether the TARDIS meant it if Jack waited until it was seventy one per cent to tell us what was going on or what; but that's what she told me." The young black woman wisely decided to not say any thing.

They sat in silence like that for the remainder of the day, hardly moving at all except for to go and make them some more tea to drink and to look after their injured friend.

The nine hundred plus year old brown haired time lord packed Martha back off to her bed room again once her eye lids started to become heavier and heavier until she was falling asleep where she sat in her chair.

"'time lords don't need any sleep.'" He said to her. It was almost the truth, in the fact that they did not need as much sleep as regular humans; and the Doctor was able to go up to a fort night with out any sleep, though the record back on Gallifrey had been an entire month by Earth time.

They carried on like that for the next couple of days, completely and utterly oblivious to the horrific and malevolent danger that was present and gradually closing in on the TARDIS as it stood there in the snow. The 'thing' bared its sharp white teeth as she grinned and her laugh mixed naturally with the howl of the blizzard winds.

It seemed to grow smoothly and silkily until her ominous black figure totally dwarfed the little blue box and placed gigantic hands on the slanted roof; snapping heavy eye lids over her blood red orbs as she effortlessly transported all of them to another dimension entirely.

The trio in side all silently collapsed on to the ground.


	11. chapter eleven

The doctor awoke so slowly that it was almost painful. His mind felt incredibly fuzzy and was threatening to render him unconscious again. He fought against the gravitational pull and opened his eyes; it took him four attempts until his sleep laden lids reluctantly pried them selves apart. All he could see was a ceiling made of some kind of metal, or was it a wall?

The brunette carefully checked his body for any injuries and, much to his relief, discovered that- aside from a few minor bruises- he was perfectly OK. He gradually became aware of a cold surface against the left side of his face and determined that he was lying sprawled on the floor. The time lord sat up gently and took stock of his surroundings. He lay in a perfectly square room, all six sides of which were made out of metal. As the nine hundred year old alien could see no lights or any thing similar, he determined that the metal it self lit up the room. It did not really smell of any thing in particular, after a quick examination with his sonic screw driver, (which the doctor was incredibly surprised to find still tucked neatly in to the in side pocket of his jacket) it turned out that the walls were made of Illustrisum, a plastic-metal material common on the majority of LEVEL 6 industrial planets. The temperature in side the room was level so it didn't seem likely that he would be freezing to death in the for see able future. There was breathable air coming in through several square foot vents set at regular intervals around the upper side of the walls and a metal sink that appeared to supply the occupants with fresh running water.

The only snag being that there was no door.

Ok, the doctor thought, theoretically, if there is a way in to some where then there has to be a way out. So if there is no door- or one that is visible at least- then that means that I must have gotten in side of here by a teleport of some kind. Or a vortex manipulator like Jack has. So I got in here by materialisation; which probably means that the only way for me to escape is to be beamed back out. And I conclude that I am going to be waiting in here for a while yet, he finished resolutely. The nine hundred year old time lord who was a brunette and wanted to be ginger settled him self down in to a comfortable-ish position against a wall and let his mind wander off to thoughts of his two companions.

He wondered if they were both in a similar predicament or were together, maybe they were even still back in the TARDIS; bewildered as to where the hell he had disappeared to and who had kidnapped him. The Doctor uttered a quiet curse in the silence of his prison cell, they would both be so hurt at the thought of abandonment- especially Jack. The thought of his immortal friend brought forward a whole bucketful of new ones in to his mind that he had attempted to shut away.

After several more minuites of depressing thoughts, the Doctor settled back and shut his eyes, if he was going to be waiting in here for a while then there was no point in passing up some much needed sleep.

Jack came to with a low groan. After a few moments of rubbing the sleep dust out of his eyes, he found him self in a sort of cell, lying on a metal shelf that protruded out of what he presumed was the back wall.

"Oh, God, why is it that when ever some thing weird happens I end up by my self?" he muttered to the air, "why cant some one in the universe some where cut me a break?"

The immortal man pushed him self up right and glanced around some more.

"Mind you," he added, "It could be worse I suppose. Four star prison cell this is." The only problem, he added in side of his mind, is that I cant see a way out.

Jack looked down and was surprised to find that he had managed to keep a hold of his vortex manipulator. Aside from what ever else their kidnappers were, they obviously were not too bright. If he could just find the right co ordinates then he might be able to recall the TARDIS… suddenly, how ever, he was distracted from his task when Martha appeared on the floor out of no where. She looked around, clearly confused, then spotted him and they met each other in a relieved embrace. After a few minuites they broke apart and the trainee physician looked up at Jack with worried brown eyes. "Are you alright? Where's the Doctor?"

"I don't know where the Doctor has got to, and, yeah, I'm OK. How did you get in here? More to the point, where is here?"

They sat back down on to the bench and Jack put a reassuring arm around her. "I have no idea." Martha sighed gloomily, "All three of us were in the TARDIS, then I felt like some thing was sort of, like, pushing at my mind. And the next moment every thing went black and I woke up in a room like this one 'cept that there was no bench."

The elder man pulled her closer and she squeezed his hand in return. "I'm scared Jack." She admitted in whispered tones.

"Me too." He replied, even quieter. He was glad that, embroiled in her thoughts, Martha had momentarily forgotten the situation back on the TARDIS. Then he dragged him self out from his morbid ponderings and resumed his trade mark cheery façade. "Come on Martha, it aint that bad. We're together in a four star prison cell and our host has been kind enough to provide us with a bench! And the Doctor isn't here to supervise us, imagine the opportunities this presents us with!"

Jack made a smirk that practically screamed seduction and it grew wider when Martha playfully batted him away. "You're like a dog!" she told him with a laugh.

"Well obviously! They're cute!" this comment sent the younger in to peals of laughter again. They were still laughing five minuites later when Martha's mobile phone dropped out of her pocket with a vociferous clatter.

"That's weird." She told him, "Why didn't they take my phone?

"I've still got my wrist band too."

"Can you get a signal?"

"Yeah."

"I thought that the whole idea of being kidnapped was to prevent contact with the out side world, not encourage it."

The pair thought about it until Jack hit upon the answer. "OK, where are we exactly?" he muttered, fiddling with his vortex manipulator when he saw the data provided to him, he muttered an austere sounding, "Oh shit."

"What?" Martha asked him. "Where does it say we are?"

"No where no when." The ex con replied. At the puzzled expression on the woman's face, he explained further. "It's kind of difficult to explain but it's kind of like a new dimension. Like a copy of the world that we left behind but sort of put in to stasis so that nothing changes. That's why we can breath. The bad news is that who ever has kidnapped us must be immensely powerful." He nodded his head towards the phone Martha still held in her hand. "They've left us with all of our stuff because any call for help is guaranteed not to get any further than either the shield that have been set up or the place that we were last. And the TARDIS is broken so we're stuck. And we can't call up the Doctor 'cuz' most likely he's here some where too and he hasn't got a mobile."

"So we're stuck here? Great."

"look on the bright side, at least we're both together. And alive."

"Always a bonus that." Martha managed a small grin. "Lucky for us there's some games on this so if we do die then it won't be of boredom." The two companions settled down for a long wait.


	12. chapter twelve

She swept majestically down the corridor and entered the control room with a graceful swipe of the key card. The ship greeted her in calm, humble tones. "Show me the prisoners." She ordered. Automatically, a screen opened out from a wall and displayed images from hidden cameras in both of the holding cells. The thing gave a cursory glance at Martha and Jack, by now both were far gone in sleep, then focused her attention solely towards the last of the time lords. Cold, blank eyes examined the suited brunette. "Access all information about the Doctor." She told the ship. The data chip in side of her head flooded with information that she now knew off by heart. The Doctor was a time lord from the planet Gallifrey that had long since gone in a time war against the time lords' mortal enemy, the Daleks. He was nine hundred and fifth two years old by earth time and in his tenth regeneration. He had ran away from Gallifrey when he was nearing the end of his first regeneration. And he had been accompanied by his grand daughter, named Susannavorlandarextic (shortened to Susan when they had first started to ravel with one another), as her parents had both been killed some years previously. Since the Doctor had arrived on Earth he had gotten through nine regenerations, all resembling british men, several changes of the interior of the TARDIS, and only rassilon knows how many companions. About fifty percent of which he had abandoned with out a care in the universe. He had then escaped from the time war and carried on as he had done previously. She quickly scanned the boring details of how ever many complaints and charges had been filed against the Doctor for interference on other planetary affairs by numerous leaders of planets and colonies and resumed watching the CCTV footage. "Transport the Doctor in here." She muttered, keying in the code for operating the teleportation equipment with 2 of her elongated fingers on one hand, scrolling through past video footage with the other. The tip and uttermost ring of the transmit beam glowed from a dark red to white and a low electronic buzzing filled the room, setting each one of her senses tingling.

Martha stirred and, after taking a moment to regain her bearings, looked side ways a cross at Jack. The immortal man looked only marginally better than he had done back on the TARDIS. She wondered whether she would be able to look at the wound on his stomach with out waking him up. The doctor in training decided to take her chances and sidled closer towards her fellow companion . but just as her luck would al ways have it, how ever, Jack decided to choose that precise moment to wake up and he captured brown eyes with piercing blue.

"For the record, it's fine. And you could have just asked me in stead of going all secret espionage and the like."

"If I had asked then you would have just brushed it off like you had perfectly recovered in a matter of hours when you had been out of your head for days: and further more, my excuse is that it's cold."

The elder checked with his vortex manipulator, "This says that it is exactly the same as it was seven hours ago, but snuggle up by all means, but do so at your own risk. No telling what I might dream about with such a woman like you close by."

Martha figured that it was in her mind's best interests to ignore Jack's last innuendo laden comment and decided to chance t=being felt up by a sleeping impossible man and pressed her self in to Jack's side. "You were never really asleep all of that time were you?"

"Now that would be telling. Go to sleep."

The Doctor surveyed the room from his position on the floor, noting down all the equipment; secretly in awe at the complex arrange of devices and gizmos on display. He was tempted to let out a whistle but then he decided that it wouldn't be any good for his image and caught him self. The 'thing' stepped forwards from the shadows and the last of the time lords craned his neck around to observe her. A few moments of thought and his features broke in to a wide, toothy grin. "Well hello there! I'm the Doctor. Who are you?" she stayed silent and the brunette pushed forwards regardless. "Not much of a talker huh? That's ok, plenty of times when it's quite good to just sit down some where and listen to the silence. But seeing as you've kidnapped me, and I'm guessing my two friends as well, the least you could do would be to answer my at the very least a couple of my questions. So what do ya say?" brown eyes swept over her darkened form, not even flinching slightly when they collided with her blood red eyes. The silence might have stretched on for ever until the 'thing' spoke.

"You really, bona fide, honest to God and all that is holy, in the name of our lord Rassilon, swore in the blood of the child princess of metabellis two hundred and sixteen point oh one, don't recognise me do you?" she asked the Doctor calmly.

"'Fraid not."

"Well then," she sneered, bending down closer, "Let's see if we can refresh your memory, hmm Doctor? You like clues? Here's one: I know better than you know your self. Can you guess now?"

The brunette mulled words over in his (quite frankly and not at all modestly) awesome mind. "Nope." He admitted, popping the 'P'. "Give us another hint will you?"

She pretended to ponder. "Hmm, I'm still young. Will that do for you?"

The Doctor felt horror well up in side of him and tried to quench it, it might not be, he reminded him self silently. There's a chance it's not. "Still not quite there I'm afraid." He told her. A smile that would have suited the devil him self to a 'T' stretched out her darkened features wide. The 'thing' bent down even further and placed her gruesome mouth right be side his ear, fighting to contain a laugh as he recoiled in disgust.

And she whispered 2 little words that used to be quite the catch phrase for her long ago.

"Hello Grandfather."


	13. chapter thirteen

The doctor recoiled, horrified that this, this…. Thing had once been his beautiful, smart, funny granddaughter, was still his granddaughter. "No," he shook his head, "no, you're not her. How can you be her? She never came to Russia. It's impossible, you're lying!" he yelled the last bit, refusing to believe what his ears were hearing.

"I'm different to what I was," she conceded, "I was forced to regenerate when I was hit with a bullet on the farm David owned, some thing went wrong and I became this. Still having doubts? I can prove it. You left Gallifrey with me after my parents died; they were both shot by rogue time lords in the middle of their regenerations. My mother- your daughter- was called Mysticummulaetfiliame, but you nick named her Filly because all she ever used to dream of was horses. Is that proof enough for you?"

The Doctor felt sick. "What happened to you? How did you get here? Why are you doing this?"

"You abandoned me." Susan hissed. In any other situation then the words would have wrenched even a cold blooded murderer's heart strings.

"It was for the best!" he argued, "What could I have given you compared to David? A life spent constantly running, never being able to settle and make some good, solid relationships. A life where danger was only ever a step away? I did it because I loved you Susan, can't you get that?"

"What I cant get is the fact that you just locked me out of the TARDIS with out so much as an explanation!" she roared back.

"Because I knew you would just have refused to see it my way and I would eventually give in! Imagine how I would have felt, knowing that I had gotten my own granddaughter killed!"

"Oh, yes, it's all about you, isn't it Doctor?!" Susan snapped, "How would you feel if some one that you loved locked you out of your own home? You've done it to so many of your companions, but tell me; have you ever actually experienced it for your self? Well?! Have you?!"

The elder was more perplexed than angry at the accusations that Susan was throwing left right and centre at him.

"I have never once done that to any of my companions! What in the name of Rassilon and the High Council are you going on about?"

"Me, Sarah Jane, Tegan, Peri, Jack." Susan snarled, "You abandoned each and every one of us and you didn't give a damn! Then you try to run a way from Jack and call him wrong to his face as well! I hope you are very proud of your self grandfather, I really do! Well, I will make you hurt Doctor, see how much you like it!"

As soon as the words had exited her mouth, the machinery all around them began to spark and let off ominous sounding crackles. A bolt of blue shot from her hand and went directly for the Doctor. He went flying and hit the wall with a sickening crack before slumping bonelessly on to the floor.

The former time lady took one last studious look at her grandfather before calmly walking out of the room as if nothing had happened.

The next time that Jack woke up, he was aware that the comforting puddle of warmth where Martha had been was now strangely cold. He quickly looked around and realised that he was all alone; the bottom of his stomach plummeted dangerously low. The immortal pushed him self unsteadily to his feet.

"Martha?! Martha where've you gone?!" he called out fearfully as a door appeared in the far wall. Jack went over and peered out in to a long, winding corridor. "Martha?" he tried again. "Doctor? Where are you?" he whispered quietly. The ex con man made his way along the wall, looking for a way out. A groan was emitted from some where a few metres away and he turned around, "Doctor?" he called. Another groan in response. Jack saw a lone door and quickly tapped in a universal overriding code sequence in to the keypad. Giving up a silent 'thank you' when it worked. "Doc'?" he asked. It was definitely a man's groaning. Although he wished that it was in a rather different situation- namely a warm and comfy bed with him on the top. The immortal brunette broke in to a run and skidded the last half foot on his knees as he saw an unconscious time lord lying spread eagle on the floor.

The Doctor moaned painfully as the throbbing in his head returned as he came back from the land of oblivion. He tiredly blinked open his eyes and was met with orbs of baby blue.

"Doc'?" the voice, which he recognised as Jack's, asked him. "Are you OK? What happened to you?"

The last of the time lords groggily sat up and rubbed at his eyes. "Oh… the usual. Kidnapped, met the bad guy, tried to negotiate and- as per the usual- it didn't work and I got zapped with some thing blue. Where's Martha?"

"I was kind of hoping that she would be with you, which she obviously isn't."

The elder groaned.

"Calm down Doc'. She might have just been placed in a separate room or some thing."

Or some thing, the Doctor muttered silently. When he had finally pulled him self free of his thoughts, alarm bells started ringing when he found that Jack was no where to be seen; calming them selves down again when he realised that the immortal man had wondered off to investigate the surrounding equipment.

"Some thing isn't right." Jack called over at him. "This stuff has clearly been subjected to massive radiation levels and recent spikes of intense power and yet every bit that I've checked out so far is working as perfectly as if it was straight off the production line."

"She's probably got a back-up generator or two, an well as some clever, complicated fail safe system. I knew there was a reason that we got along so well."

"Whoa! Hold on, she? And you knew her?! Care to explain Doc'?"

"Later." The elder responded noncommittally.

Jack simply gave him a knowing look before returning to fiddle with various controls in what seemed a rather random way to the nine hundred year old Gallifreyan but made perfect sense to the immortal. "No need for that." The Doctor told his companion. "All I have to do is use the recall button on the TARDIS."

"Now you tell me!" Jack shook his head. Though he silently thought that the Doctor should maybe use the recall button a bit more often. Both men were slightly relieved at the familiar sound of the police box.

The Doctor pushed open the door and turned to look at the ex time agent. "Well come on!" he called, "There's some poor damsel in distress who is in dire need of rescue and you're gonna be gloomy with no one to flirt with!"

Shaking his head but smiling simultaneously, the younger followed the last of the time lord's retreating figure.


	14. chapter fourteen

Martha had no idea where she was. It looked, in every respect, precisely like the TARDIS' console room; but for the colours which were clinical white silver and black. The whole place was spotless and it set the young trainee doctor's teeth on edge. Oh sure, she liked a nice clean and tidy room as much as the next person did, but this was just way too much. It felt cold. Martha had a very vey creepy sense that she was very much out of place, like a lady bird that was crawling about in a mass of fleas. A voice interrupted her thoughts.

"So you are awake." She spun around and backed a way just as quickly. A tall black figure cloaked entirely with shadow which had too many fingers and blood red ovals were its eyes should have been approached her from the opposite side of the room. The young black woman immediately scrambled to her feet and looked around her frantically for any thing mildly resembling a door. Or a window. Or a balcony. Actually any way out, at this particular point in time, Martha was too scared to start being picky. Seeing some thing that looked to her as a viable means of escape and was free demonic kidnappers and the like, Martha sprinted towards it and opened it on the run with a hefty shove; with all the purpose of saving her self from the beast that had appeared before and its intentions which (surprisingly) she did not really want to find out about. Only, she found her self looking out on to the unmistakeable scene of the space time vortex and was forced to grab the door frame at the last minute to stop her self from falling out in to who knows where, or when, she supposed. The thing behind her clicked two fingers (or rather 2 talons) together and the doors slammed shut with a clang that echoed strangely in the other wise silent room. "I would be rather more careful if I were you." She observed drily, "Or your actions could lead to an un-rectifiable mistake."

"What do you want from me?!" Martha demanded, "Where are my friends and who the hell are you?!"

The black shadow seemed to shake her head in a condensing sort of manner, "All in good time." She replied, "Now, unfortunately for you I am going to have to provide you with a residence, rather more enclosed than what you have seen so far. Good night."

And Martha's world went black.

~0~

When Martha woke up again, with a sudden thought that she had passed out too often lately for it to be even remotely funny any more, she found her self in a room much like that of an expensive 80's hotel pent house suite a comfortable bed was positioned opposite where a window should have gone in any normal situation, a quick check through a mahogany door revealed that it led to quite a large en suite bath room. The drawers and cupboards were found to contain her clothes and books. In fact, it seemed as though all her personal objects had been taken from the TARDIS and placed in to this room. Jack will be pissed off then, Martha though to her self. If all the TARDIS is in this sort of dis array then that means that his room will be in an absolutely total mess. Despite what people might have thought, the ex con man was in fact an incredibly tidy person- though when the Doctor had commented on it once the immortal brunette had just shrugged non committedly and stared hard at the floor. There appeared to be no kitchenette or indeed any means of acquiring food and the door was (obviously) firmly locked and bolted so Martha decided to sort through all of her possessions in the hope that it might encourage her brain to work out a solution. Martha eventually dozed off and when she woke up she discovered that she not only had a crick in her neck but also that a plate of food and a carton of juice had been left up on the table that was at the foot of her bed. She ate the food and drank the juice then sat around surprised that she hadn't contracted food poisoning or what have you while waiting for some thing to happen.

Nothing did.

How long she waited she had no idea, but after what seemed like several long millennia, the young physician in training blinked at the flat white tablet that had appeared seemingly out of no where. Martha blinked a few more times to be doubly sure the whole thing was not just some crazy hallucination conjured up by her mind before picking the object up and settling it in to her lap. It was like the Ipad thing that Leo had had last time that she had gone back home only it was thinner and slightly smaller and with out any buttons any where. She experimentally waved her hand over the screen and then when nothing happened she tapped it gently. The sensors under neath the high density poly carbonate crystalline screen flashed in to action, showing Martha any number of symbols for some weird sort of alien language Martha could never hope to understand before presenting her with pages up on pages of writing which was thankfully in English.

Martha settled her self comfortable against the bed's head board and began to read. The thing, who we readers now know is in fact the doctor's granddaughter Susan, surveyed the scene of the young girl reading. Though not really young, she thought, seeing as Martha was actually 2 years older than her. * Susan had thought and rethought of what to do with the youngest of the Doctor's companions countless amounts of Times and each time had come out with that she had 2 possible options=

Kill Martha, though she didn't want to do that as she was actually not a violent person. Or she was but she didn't like killing very much, yes, even total nutters had their limits. Either way, that option was very clearly labelled as the ultimate last resort.

Or Susan could keep Martha sedated. That was actually quite a nice resolution because then Martha would not be hurt in the slightest a part from being slightly woozy for a short time when she was eventually woken up. And she wouldn't have to feed 2 mouths and there would be one less problem of the trainee doctor trying to escape from her if every thing unfortunately ended up in a fight with the Doctor. Susan wondered whether she should tell Martha that she was going to be sedated or simply put some thing in to her drink. It didn't really matter of course because the drug would just make her fall in to a deep sleep and her body go in to a hibernation sort of state; not harm her in any way what so ever.

She decided to go along with the secretly in the drink plan and set off to the kitchen to prepare.

*A/N: confused? Well, Susan had a vortex manipulator or some sort of time travelling device thingy majigg what ever that had a GPS tracking thing on the TARDIS which al so told her whether it was safe for her to go with out bumping in to her self and causing a paradox. And Susan was only 24 or what ever when she got shot by a rogue bullet from a poacher on her husband, David Campbell's farm and her attempt at regeneration failed and David was killed by exposure to time lord regeneration radiation energy (try saying that when you're drunk)and the piece of equipment he was carrying short circuited and electrocuted him, not a nice way to go.


	15. chapter fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> longest chapter of the story and those of you that like whump and comforting Ianto will love this

When Jack stepped into the hallway leading off the TARDIS control room he discovered it to be full of clutter and he was practically wading knee deep through the mess.

"Uh, Doctor, has the TARDIS had a make over or some thing? Because I don't think the new design is all that practical."

"What do you…?" the 900 year old time lord trailed off as he entered and saw the mess before him. "Oh, OK, well I didn't expect that to have happened I'll admit. So you can't blame me."

"It would be helpful if I knew just what had happened so then I'd know what not to blame you for."

"Ah, yes, well, I suppose the TARDIS sort of, had an earthquake."

"So let me just get this straight, she has been driven by you for how ever many years and yet she managed to keep every thing in its right place then." Jack muttered, only half joking.

"Oi! I heard that you know! Well, the shift between dimensions and the power the old girl had to use to realign all of her telepathic circuits and neural relays and what have you's in time for us to be able to get even a minute trace on her ship meant that a few rooms were deleted, well actually probably more than a few rooms but that's not the point. And, um, you probably should go and make sure that you still have a room or you might have to share with Martha."

"Aw Doc', you're almost making me wish my bed room has been deleted!" the immortal called after the converse and pin stripe wearing alien's retreating figure. "And I'll know if I'm ever able to get through all of your junk." He added quietly.

"I heard that too!" came the muffled but still indignant reply. Jack grinned before continuing to wade in what ever direction the TARDIS told him to go, keeping a look out for any of his things as he went.

Jack let a small moan escape as he retched violently over the toilet bowl. Vomit came easily out of his mouth and in to the toilet and he felt his insides go weak as he saw the yellow green bile floating serenely below him. He gagged, his stomach was trying desperately to expel more puke but it was empty, the last time that he had eaten any thing had been days ago, he was surprised that even a little bile had been left behind. The smell of it made him heave, there was nothing left in side his stomach to be regurgitated but it still felt as though hot, bitter lumps of vomit were gathering in his throat and choking him.

The TARDIS probed at his mind, offering what little comfort that she was able to as a sentient space and time travelling vessel, contemplating on whether to fetch the Doctor or not. He immediately yelled out no to her in his mind, the time lord didn't need to know, of that much he was absolutely sure of.

Jack heaved and gasped and spat and cried and panted as he attempted to steady him self against his body's brutal onslaught. God, that stuff was disgusting! And it had actually come from him! The thought made his stomach churn and he gagged harder in spite of the pain that it caused his tired muscles. His throat was bone dry and an attempt at breathing normally just caused him to cough at the same time as he retched which just ultimately made things even worse. Jack closed his eyes and realised that he was probably going to be here for a while yet. He let out another groan as his stomach muscles cramped up and made him double over in pain. God, that hurts, why won't it stop?! He thought desperately as the pain had him bending in half again. Please God make it stop, it hurts. The ex con man contemplated shooting him self in order to eradicate the pain before dismally realising he wouldn't even be able to walk 3 yards and let out another pained groan.

He wished Ianto was here, the welsh man would have rubbed circles in his back and wiped down his face with a soft fluffy towel before pulling him up on to his feet and settling his exhausted body back on to the mattress; making sure to tuck the covers in so that he stayed nice and warm while he went to get some chamomile tea to help quell the ripples of nausea that still remained. Then would come snuggling and hugging until the tea had been finished off- Jack had always tried to get that particular stage done with in the quickest amount of time that Ianto would let him,

"'you have to drink slowly Jack or else you'll just throw up again and we don't want that, do we?'"

Because after a drink then there would be the time to cuddle, their bodies pressed so close together that it was almost impossible to tell where one stopped and the other began. And Ianto would whisper soothing welsh words in his ear until he fell asleep and if he woke up and he still felt bad the welsh man would some how convince to stay in bed that day. He would listen as Ianto pottered round the flat for a while before coming back with a hot water bottle and a bucket and a drink and he would untangle the sheets and tuck him back in again and kiss his forehead because he would have to go in to work to provide Gwen with some much needed coffee but he would come back at lunch time and if it was going to be a quiet day Ianto might stay the rest of the day with him in bed and Jack would refuse to let go of him until he managed to fall asleep again because although he would never ever say it, just being held in Ianto's strong arms was enough to make him feel much better. If Jack closed his eyes tight and concentrated hard enough he could almost believe that was what was going on.

The immortal only vaguely registered more frequent pains as he slipped in to a very nice fantasy. He was so deep in side of his own mind that he didn't notice the bath room door opening and the time lord popping first his head and then the rest of his stick thin body through the gap. Jack felt his head go from touching some thing cold and hard to nothing and then some thing soft and warm and he would have thought of it as odd but that would mean pulling out of his thoughts about Ianto so he just accepted it; after all, the gentle hands tucking him in and stroking his hair and rubbing across his back could be the welsh man's if he tried hard enough.

Despite maintaining a cool and calm exterior, inside the Doctor was cursing and berating himself for forgetting about Jack. The time lord had been making some tea and sandwiches with bananas and peanut butter when he had heard a noise followed by a much louder thud. The TARDIS had directed him towards Jack's room and he had thought that probably something had slipped and caused a pile of other stuff to come crashing down but when he saw a clear pathway to an open door that theory was quickly squished. He had called out to his immortal companion and grew slightly worried when there was no answer so he had checked the room only to discover no one was in there. The Doctor had been about to leave when he heard that noise again and padded on towards the bathroom. When he had seen the former time agent doubled over on the floor he could have kicked himself and very nearly did except Jack groaned and curled tighter into a ball before vomiting on both the floor and himself so the Doctor snapped back into real time and gently rubbed circles across his back in what he hoped was a soothing gesture; he had never had a companion that had been sick before so he wasn't all that sure of what to do but it felt right and he figured that when he was upset he was happier when he knew he wasn't alone and being sick was probably like being upset and Jack would quite like to know someone was there with him, even if it was just to flirt with. When his friend uttered a happy sigh and leaned gratefully into his touch, the Doctor decided he was doing it right and made a mental note for future references. The nine hundred year old brunette realised that his knees were sore from kneeling on the tiles and he surmised that Jack should probably get off the floor, not least because it was spattered with puke. He turned the immortal onto his side and quickly pulled off the soiled blue shirt and untied his boots before scooping him up into his arms with a display of strength that was at odds with his appearance.

He tucked him in and awkwardly patted his hair down, horribly aware that he really didn't know how to comfort a sick person. He had hoped that the TARDIS might be able to help but the faithful old ship was too busy repairing itself and soothing Jack's nightmares to be of any assistance; the Doctor also thought that she quite enjoyed the fact that for once he was out of his depth. Although it could just have been the fact that Jack flirted with her where the Doctor didn't.

"Whoever would have thought that a ship could fancy someone?" He wondered aloud. Although, he thought, Jack did once say that he had had a relationship with his ship's computer so he probably had the experience…. EWWW! No Doctor, don't go down that path or you'll never be able to sleep again. Jack gave a little moan and murmured "Ianto". The name didn't seem to bring with it any nightmares so the time lord decided against waking him up and started to ponder on just who Ianto was.

Maybe it was a lover; the Doctor was familiar enough to know that Jack very rarely got close enough to anyone to dream about them. He vaguely recalled Martha telling him about torchwood 3 after she had gone home for a while and Jack had been in a relationship with a welsh man. The name Ianto definitely sounded welsh so he worked out that it was probably a work colleague.

Just then an "I love you Ianto." Came from the figure asleep on the bed and he was, in all honesty, shocked. This Ianto person really must have been special if he could get the intergalactic playboy that was Captain Jack Harkness to say the l word. He felt the TARDIS prod gently at his mind and let her in, sensing that it was something important and she showed the Doctor Ianto Jones, his feelings for the immortal and their reciprocation, how the tea boy had saved him from himself and taught him how to love again. How Ianto had died at the hands of the 4-5-6 and the grief that it caused Jack made him give up on life. And how the immortal man had plastered on a fake smile and flirty attitude so he and Martha didn't worry because it still hurt so much even after 10 years on. How he had returned to the TARDIS despite what had happened in the past because it was the only place he felt wanted. And the Doctor almost cried,

Jack moaned painfully as he cracked open his eyes only to almost have them burnt out by the lighting. The TARDIS seemed to understand and thankfully the lights had dimmed by the time he attempted to open his eyes again. It was then he noticed that he wasn't in his room anymore. Same bed, different room, weird in any other place but the Doctor's TARDIS. He wondered how long he had been asleep, then immediately wanted to go back because if he was awake the Doctor would come soon and an awkward conversation would be inevitable. Jack blinked and suddenly was back in his room again. And, right on cue, the door opened and he groaned silently.

Awkward conversation here i come he thought grimly, universal rule for stopping unwanted conversations? Distraction. "You know how long it is that I've been waiting for you to come into my room Doc'." He quipped, supplying his friend with a suggestive smirk.

"distracting me isn't gonna get you out of this one Jack."

Great, so here I am, possibly even on my last legs, and he wants to talk all serious and 'what the hell is wrong with you?'

"Do you want me to give you a demonstration? And then you might want to rethink your answer."

"It won't work, I appreciate that this isn't going to be the easiest conversation in your life but at this point in times it's the most needed. Now answer me this: if you felt sick why didn't you just get the TARDIS to fetch me?"

Jack shrugged, "Martha's still missing, it's not like it's life threatening to me is it?" he drew his knees up and started to absentmindedly stroke his thumb against the seam of the quilt over and over.

"I don't often swear but I think this time I'll make an exception. You prick Jack. Now your next excuse will be 'getting the TARDIS to fetch me would have used up power she could have put towards to finding Martha quicker.' Which is bullshit and total and utter nonsense. So, would you care to give me the real reason?"

No answer, the Doctor let out a sigh. Well, if he was going to make this difficult. "Fine, I'll unpick your brains for you. You didn't want me to know because you don't like to be seen as weak. Perfectly understandable, I get where you're coming from. But that's not the only reason, you're scared of getting close to anyone after Ianto."

The former con man visibly stilled and bit at his lip.

"You came back here because it's the only place you feel wanted and you can meet so many people and make so many friends and get to leave before you can become attached and so you make sure that they never get to know the man behind the mask; because if they did that then they'll realise how different you are. Now you, Jack, believe this to be a bad thing, because you view yourself as some sort of monster, after all, who would want to date a man who got his lover killed and then murdered his own grandson? Who would want to fall in love with a man who cannot die and is constantly mourning for dead lovers, past and future? So you distance yourself from other people, not just to protect yourself but them too, everyone that you've fallen in love with has either died young or ran away, their hearts turned bitter. Either way, you hurt all those that you love yet you still have to stay on the TARDIS because otherwise you have no other reason to look on the Brightside of life. So to resolve all your problems you never sleep with fellow companions or me, just in case we see underneath all that charm and innuendo and discover you. Am i right?"

"You should give up on saving the universe and become a psychiatrist. If you know so much about my inner mind you tell me, Mr know it all."

"Well, basically, all that's left to say is that you view yourself very negatively which is the complete opposite to how others see you. But yeah, I'll just let you talk now, go ahead."

Jack continued staring down at the blanket. How had the Doctor seen through him? Was it only just lately or had he always been able to? He had been alone since he was 13 and let his brother be taken by faceless invaders, never to be forgiven by his mother. How did the Doctor know? And should he just tell all and to hell with the consequences? Could he? Probably wasn't the smartest thing to do but if he didn't he might not be deemed smart or caring or human enough to stay on the TARDIS and he didn't want to think about what he would do if that ever was to happen.

"I never lose control." He whispered into the quiet eventually. "Not since Gray… he could make me lose control. He was so brilliant and just so him then I took him into that place and he died. I lost control and he died because of me. And don't try saying it wasn't my fault because we both know it's a lie. It's been 10 years Doc', 10 years since he died, ten years trying to find you and I haven't ever slept with anyone since. Never even looked. Because I thought maybe you could bring him back and I could take him somewhere he'd be safe no matter what and be so happy."

Jack continued to stroke the quilt over and over, the Doctor wanted to pull his friend into a hug and hold him and tell him that everything would be alright but of course he couldn't. Ianto Jones was never coming back, whatever the immortal did instantly became a fixed point in time; it couldn't be changed or the fallout would be devastating and have consequences all across the universe. And he couldn't just say everything would be OK, Jack knew that it was just a lie and had known it since he was 13 years old and his brother and father were lost to the monsters that invaded his home.

And the Doctor decided to do what he always did, run away.

He walked calmly over to the chest of drawers and chucked a pile of clothes onto a nearby chair. "I'll see you in the control room. The TARDIS will show you the way to the kitchen if you're hungry. Take as long as you need, it'll take a few hours for the old girl to lock a definite trace on Martha's location anyway." He said as he left the room.

Jack just nodded, still stroking his thumb over the blanket.


	16. chapter sixteen

Jack watched as the Doctor zapped at his wrist strap with the sonic screwdriver. "You ever gonna tell me how you know this woman then?"

The time lord glanced up, then back down. "She's called Susan. She is, was, and is my granddaughter. I left her on earth to get married when I was in my first regeneration. Had to lock her out of the TARDIS actually. Best thing for her, 'cept she had to regenerate and I had never taught her about it and it went horribly wrong, so wrong she became deformed. So, naturally, she is quite bitter and resentful towards me." The doctor gauged for the immortal's reaction. "You don't look too surprised."

"Figured it would be some body personal." Jack shrugged. "Doesn't take a genius to figure the rest of it out."

"Oh." The younger said simply before returning his attention to the job at hand. Five minuites later, and he was done. "There we are enough power for one trip there and one trip back. Now, do you know what it is that you have to do?"

"Teleport to Susan's ship's secondary control room and find and operate the controls that are in charge of the telepathic circuitry. Get a way to where ever Martha is imprisoned in my head then find Martha and teleport us back in here while you talk to her and do what ever it is that you do in situations like this."

"Right." He nodded. "And quickly. I have no idea what sort of security devices and alarm systems and traps and what have you she might have put in to place on that ship of hers. And there is to be no dying! Understand?"

"Yes Doctor." Jack sighed. They both knew that he would protect Martha whether it made him die once or a million times over. "I don't suppose that this time you'll tell me how to fix that thing perfectly would you?"

"Nope." The time lord said, pooping the p with relish. "Like I have told you before I can't have you in 2 places at once, the second time would be to apologise."

"It's a gift." Jack smirked. "Now pretty please can I have my toy back?" he gave his friend a mock pout and was duly rewarded.

"Now go on!" the Doctor ordered him. The immortal gave him a leery grin in return as his brain conjured up just one in a few million dirty , innuendo laden comments he could say to that before hitting the buttons of his vortex manipulator and disappearing into thin air.

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The doctor pulled down on a lever as the TARDIS shook, a noisy protest ringing in his ears. "Just hold on a bit longer old girl." He cooed to her. "I know, you're using up a lot of power, creating a direct walk through to Susan's ship but it's just a bit longer now, I promise." The ship seemed to sigh, as if she were a mother talking to an exasperating nine year old and continued with her task. The converse wearing Gallifreyan absentmindedly patted the console reassuringly every time the ship juddered or shook as he thought about what he was going to do next. This is it. He thought. She is either going to listen to what I have to say and back down willingly or all of that rage is going to take total control of her and she'll either succeed in killing us all or I'll have to put a halt to that by drugging her into oblivion. I just hope she can understand why I had to do what I did all of those 825 years ago.

He knew that there was point in him thinking up excuses for himself, he had locked his 18 year old granddaughter out of her home with no explanation what so ever and just left her on a foreign planet to get married to a man of an entire different species.

He just hoped that Susan would be able to forgive him.

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Jack steadied him self against a wall as he materialised in side what looked like a Victorian parlour. Geez, he thought to him self, you would think that when they were inventing some thing more reliable than a TARDIS they'd have put a couple of shock absorbers too. He shook him self out of his wonderings and headed for an abject in the centre of the room that looked like some sort of cross between an old computer and an Edwardian writing desk.

Ok, telepathic inter face, telepathic inter face… gotcha! The immortal ex time agent flicked down a long series of rainbow and neon coloured switches before adjusting a dial that seemed to be made out of a purple bottle cap and a lever that stood along side an ominous looking red button with the words "DO NOT PRESS" written in white. He felt Susan's ship adjust the telepathic feed, branching between the new comer and it's mistress and quickly assessed the route that would safely get him to where ever it was that Martha had been taken. When Jack saw a mental picture of what could have been just an ordinary hospital room, he was surprised to say the least. Clearly this girl was not as violent or as malevolent as her grand father thought her to be. He was vaguely reminded of a child threatening to throw out another child's favourite teddy bear in to the rubbish bin but really they would only hide the item until a later date when all had been forgiven.

"Right." He chided him self, his voice sounding strangely loud and echoing off the walls of the other wise silent place. "Less thinking and more action. Find Martha and get us both back to the TARDIS. Now."

And with that, he pushed open the door and stepped out in to the unknown.

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Susan hurried over to where an alarm was blaring and surveyed the information that was clattering across the screen. "Unknown ship is in contact…" the electronic voice repeated over and over again. "Awaiting commands." The deformed time lady watched the out side cameras as a blue nineteen sixties' police public telephone box appeared along side with a shimmering grey rectangle which represented the walk way which now connected the 2 time ships together. "Awaiting further commands." The ship beeped at her again.

"It is the Doctor." She replied. "Resume normal flight procedures."

"Commands understood."

She turned and faced the door as it burst open and a slightly bed raggled Doctor stepped in side, the doors slamming shut behind him. "Ah, love what you've done with the place!" He said as he spotted her. "Although I have to say, it isn't all that colourful is it? Bit boring in my opinion really."

She just continued to stare calmly and it was unnerving him, for her to be utterly silent and still. She could tell because he was having a rambling, one sided conversation with him self. Eventually, he stopped talking and looked her straight in the eye. Only then did she deem it the correct moment to start speaking.

"Doctor." She greeted him with a curt nod. "I imagine that by the amount of power that is being drained off of my ship then your own TARDIS must be feeling quite uncomfortable at this moment in time. I saw the new interior, by the way. It was very… orange. I must confess, how ever, that I am some thing of a nostalgic, as you can see here with the design of my own control room." Susan gestured vaguely with one hand around them. "Now, enough small talk, what is it that you want?"

The Doctor wasn't listening though, his mind was still caught up in an earlier comment that the younger woman had said just moments before. "Wait a minute, hold on; now, hold on, when did you see in side of the TARDIS? You've never been in side… unless… OH MY DEAR Rasiilon, Susan! You interfered with Jack's mind, didn't you? That's why his memories were all messed up and kept having night mares! Do you know how illegal that is?!"

"I found that it was the only way to get all three of you in side of a room with no interfering technology in the vicinity." The deformed woman replied to his question with a shrug. "And it is hardly like he is traumatised from his experiences is it?"

"THAT IS NOT THE POINT!" the Doctor yelled at her, furious, "the point is that you might have seriously hurt Jack! Plus it is illegal!"

"And I care about that, why?" Susan asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Sit down Doctor," a chair appeared beside him, "and then we can have a long over due talk."


	17. chapter seventeen

Jack came to an innocuous door that seemed out of place in the endless bland white corridors. He tried the handle and, surprising, it opened. Clearly Susan had not expected any one to break on to her ship. He peered cautiously in side and saw Martha sleeping peacefully on a bed close to the door.

Or dead.

But he quickly pushed that particular thought out of his mind and hurried towards his friend. It did appear that the young doctor in training was just sleeping, although it was likely she had been drugged given the fact that he couldn't wake her up. Jack looked around the room and spotted a bottle full of pills sitting on the bed side table along side a folded piece of paper with instructions printed on it in stark black lettering. And it was in some alien language that was made up of triangles and circles, luckily though he recognised it as just a slightly more complex form of his own native language, Boeminian, and discovered that with out constant doses, the sedative that had been used on Martha wore off quickly and she would be awake in a few minuites.

"Sorry about this Martha." He muttered apologetically as he hoisted the sleeping girl up and on to his shoulder. "But, hey, if I save your life then you're hardly going to be complaining about it, now, are you?" he quickly checked that the corridor out side of the room was still all clear and hurried back the way that he had come. He wasn't sure if his vortex manipulator would be functional- the material that this ship was made out of suppressed all other time travelling devices and he wasn't going to waste precious escape time trying to figure out a way a round the complex systems, he had no idea how long they had left to get out of here and he had promised the Doctor no dying.

"OK, new TARDIS." He muttered as he approached a junction, "Which way do I go now? I'd flirt with you but I don't know what I should call you yet. May be later, how about it girly?"

A faint purring noise echoed a round in side his head and directed him towards the right hand corridor. A while later a drowsy groan came from Martha and he stopped and placed her on the ground while he waited for her to return to full consciousness.

"Bloody hell." She muttered. "Passing out a little too often for it to be funny any more."

"Tell me about it."

"Jack!" she immediately tried to stand on her own two feet and he put a steadying hand on her shoulder when she wobbled precariously.

"Careful, she drugged you with Dormienteros Diripiosis which is basically an incredibly strong sleeping pill. It'll be a while before it totally wears off."

"Cheers for the warning. How in God's name did you get here? And where's the Doctor?"

"The Doctor's talking to Susan, I don't know how long we have to get out of this place but I promised the Doc' no dying so I'm not going to be taking any chances. We have to get back to the secondary control room then we can just use my wrist strap to get back to the other TARDIS. You all ready to go?"

"Yeah. Come on. I so don't want to be any where near this place if it might blow up any second."

They set off, Jack flirting with Susan's ship in side of his head when she became indecisive and hesitant to show them the right direction to go in.

"We're here." Jack said finally as they spotted the door to the secondary control room.

"Good, my feet are absolutely killing me."

"When we're all back on the TARDIS and far a way from here, then I'll convince the Doctor to take us all to Riga. It's a leisure planet, got all sorts of beauty salons and pedicure places and massage parlours; the whole lot."

"Yeah? Well he had better top up that psychic credit card thing of his then, we both need some serious pampering."

"Great, you can find a massage parlour and I can find a local girl."

"Oh please, save the flirting until we're back on the TARDIS Jack."

"Aww, are you jealous?" the former time agent smirked, "You want me to give you some attention?"

"Don't you dare! I don't have any thing to hit you with in here! Now, use your wrist strap and we can get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Come on, grab hold." Martha placed a tentative hand on the proffered device- she remembered how rough it was from past experiences.

Jack pressed some buttons and then they were gone.

"Your companions have returned to your own TARDIS." Susan told the Doctor, "I did not think of the secondary control room as a place of entrance or I would have ensured the security devices in the vicinity were all in proper working order."

"Yes, well, I told Jack to get out as quick as he could. I didn't want either of them this ship longer than was absolutely necessary, I had no idea what you would do."

"I see you've gone soft in your advancing years Doctor."

"Oi! I will have you know I am only in my 10th body, a time lord can regenerate 507 times. I'm not old and senile just yet." (On Sarah Jane adventures series 4 episode 6 'the death of the doctor' he says he can regenerate 507 times.)

"Either way, I forgive you for abandoning me."

"What?"

"I'm not going to say it twice, I'm forgiving but proud. I understand why you did what you did, had I been you I would've done exactly the same, although I must point out that you methodology was extremely controversial."

"So why did you say that we had to talk?" the Doctor asked his grand daughter, totally and utterly baffled.

Some thing that could have been thought of as a smile appeared on Susan's face.

"The power that is being used between our 2 TARDIS' will eventually over load the circuits and the fail safe controls are broken in my ship and so are yours. We have to decide which ship will take away all the excess power from the other and cause it to implode, if both explode then it is a possibility that the whole of time and space will be ripped apart in Nano seconds. The person who programmes which ever ship to implode will be caught up and die instantaneously. That person will be me."

"WHAT!?" the elder yelled, "No! I've only just found you! I can't lose you again! There must be another way; there is another way, please, Susan, no!"

"It shall be me." She replied calmly. "Because I am going to die anyway. You see grandfather, it took 2 attempts for me to teleport through time to your exact location, the first attempt landed me in a nuclear fall out zone, seconds after I was washed with radiation which reacted with my current state and I am slowly but surely dying. If you love me Grandfather, you will let me die quickly. Saving the whole universe is hardly a bad way to go now is it?"

"Susan." The Doctor started desperately. "No. Please."

"It's the only way grandfather. Once all 3 of you are back in the TARDIS all of these events shall be erased from your minds. I can go to my grave knowing that I have done one good deed at least."

"Susan, don't please."

"It is too late. Goodbye grandfather."

Then all that the Doctor knew was blackness.

"Where do you want to go now then?" the Doctor asked Jack and Martha cheerfully.

"How about Riga?" Martha suggested, Jack had told her about the leisure planet and its extensive clothes and shoe shops.

"How many pairs of shoes does one woman need?" said immortal muttered.

"I heard that you!" she said, giving him a playful smack on the arm. "And my wardrobe is still less than half full, what's the point in having a wardrobe if it's not full? You boys have your gadgets and flirt with the TARDIS; I have my clothes and shoes."

"Hard to believe but the old girl actually likes it when he flirts with her. How biased can you get?"

"Well the TARDIS likes to talk about shoes and clothes with me, girls have to stick together. And how can she get Jack to flirt with her if she doesn't look nice? It's just logic."

Jack just watched the 2 bicker and smirked as Martha won. "And the moral of the story is never get in to an argument with a woman." He told the TARDIS in side of his head. "Is that right old girl?"

The ship just gave an appreciative purr and jettisoned them off to their next adventure.

THE END!


	18. epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there will be a sequel! promise!

Jack looked down at the piece of paper in his hand then up again at the sea. Torchwood 3's hub hadn't been rebuilt yet. The only consolation was that the cryo freeze chambers had not been damaged and those that had been occupied had been moved to a secure location. The address of which was written down on the piece of paper that he held. His plan was to find Gray, and send him back to the 51st century, ten years after the invasion. It had seemed painfully simple back on the TARDIS before he had left; now he wasn't so sure. The immortal man carried on looking out at the sea until some body else came and stood next to him. He didn't even need to look to know who it was.

"Doctor."

"Captain."

They stood there in silence. Until,

"You really do need to leave don't you?"

"I have to put things right, or try at least."

"I know. And that's why I thought you might need this."

The sound of the sonic screw driver broke through the silence and was followed by a beep from Jack's vortex manipulator as the time travelling circuitry whirred back in to life.

"Fixed, should last you for a couple of thousand years now."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now I have to go, places to go, people to meet. You know the story."

"Yeah, I know. Good bye Doctor."

"Good bye Jack."

Then he stood alone and listened as the last of the time lords walked away.


End file.
